Home » Mind & Soul » Atheism » Examining the 'Good News'

Examining the 'Good News'

© Francois Tremblay

It is well known that Jehovah's Witnesses are more than just annoying door-knocking types, they have their own theology and themes. Perhaps the most well-known characteristic of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect is their refusal to receive blood, which has led to a number of senseless deaths. Likewise, their literature is somewhat legendary in its iconography and themes.

Their publications, while varied, tend to revolve around one basic theme : the turmoil of the world and its only solution, worshipping God. Their general way of thinking can be expressed like this :

1. The world is agitated with crime, wars, natural disasters, and other evils.
2. Our Good News : the only way out is the Kingdom of God.
3. You must believe in God.

This may seem like sound reasoning to a Jehovah's Witness, but presents a number of problems. For example, it seems difficult to believe that the world contains more evils than it did in previous centuries. The plagues, lack of medicine, low lifespans, famines, rampant crime, constant warfare and powerlessness against the weather which characterized earlier centuries surely contained more evils than today's civilized world.

More problematic is the implied theology. It is hard to call something "Good News" when it involves the brutal murder of 99.99% of the population (i.e. anyone who is not a Jehovah's Witness) at the end-times. True, this is a flaw of fundamentalism, but is particularly egregious here. To rejoice at the death of billions of innocents and children betrays more the spirit of a psychotic than someone who is concerned with the turmoils of this world.

At least JWs do not believe in Hell, which makes them morally superior to other fundamentalists.

As for ending all problems, sure, it's not difficult to imagine that evils would disappear if God wills them to. He can do anything. But if God could do it later, why wouldn't he do it now ? This hearkens back to the perennial Argument from Evil, which has not been satisfactorily answered.

As an auxiliary problem, if all problems do end, this would seem to imply that human behavior is changed. Given, I do think that the "Kingdom of God" is not the only way to help the world (eliminating religion would be a good starting point), but completely eradicating all evils is a grandiose program which would imply a modification in human behavior.

If this is the case, then we may question, like we do for Heaven, if it is the same person who is now living in this Kingdom. It seems that, either the Kingdom is not the solution to all problems, or our identity must be altered in order to permit us to live in it, and we are not the same people. Either way, it is not satisfactory.